One of the things that sets Pearls and Irritations apart is the calibre of our contributors.

It is not unusual to have former prime ministers, department secretaries and newspaper editors, alongside senior journalists and community leaders, vying for space. Their hard-earned knowledge, experience, history and, in many cases, their frankness, enrich our pages daily.

But there is another group who grace our pages, those surrounded by the terrible events they are writing about. Two such writers spring to mind this week. I’ve mentioned Refaat Ibrahim before. He writes on the Palestinian genocide and lives in the centre of Gaza. This week he apologised for being out of contact for a few days, after the complete internet blackout. It is hard to conceive how Refaat can write so clearly and intelligently when everything he knows is falling apart around him. He signs off in emails with, “Thank you from the heart of Gaza.”

Another of our correspondents, who might prefer not to be named, sent a particularly good article which needed a few small corrections. After thanking us for our patience she mentioned, almost in passing, that her daughter was in Jerusalem, working for an international agency.

Many more of our authors have clear and personal experience on the topics they address, and their independence does not come for free. Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Chris Hedges, whom we feature often, has chosen not to work for the mainstream, and fundraises in order to continue writing.

We thank them all and ask you to join us in doing so by making a tax-deductible donation through the Australian Cultural Fund.

We started the weekend with an important piece from Joseph Camilleri on the Russia-Ukraine war, which he calls “the single most dangerous geopolitical confrontation since the end of the Cold War”. Former editor-in-chief of the South China Morning Post, David Armstrong, returns from a short break to bring us one of Pearl’s best loved columns, the Asian Media Report. Noel Turnbull digs into US opinion polls to find Donald Trump is the most unpopular president in presidential polling history. Saul Eslake files his list of top priorities for change to a tax system in desperate need of reform.

Until next week.